


A Loyalist To The Bone

by AugustStories



Series: Howling at the Stars [31]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Brothers, Character Study, Kind of an Outtake, Legacy of Old Valyria, Targaryen Crowns, Valyria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: Aurane sneaks into the crown jewels room in the dungeons of the Red Keep after his legitimization, Corlyn shows his true colors and even Varys takes a step back





	A Loyalist To The Bone

**Author's Note:**

> This was once past of "Aurane's Oneshot" but as that work progressed, these scenes just didn't feel right anymore so I cut them out. And I thought I'll either use them as flashback later or post them separately and now is as good a time as ever where I am in the finalising moments of the next chapter for "Blood of the First Men" which will come within the next few days.
> 
> This Oneshot isn't necessarily important for the plot of the story, it just gives an inside into another minor character, namely Corlys Velaryon. If you wanna see a bone deep Loyalist go up against the stags' treatment of Targaryen legacy and Varys himself, then this could be fun to read for you.
> 
> This starts off after Aurane's legitimization scene in "The Bastard of Driftmark and the Secret of Summerhall".

"What are you doing?"

The newly renamed Aurane Velaryon drew dagger and whirled around, heart having jumped into his throat upon the quiet voice breaking the dead silence of the abandoned corridors. He glared at his brother's curious eyes and waited with speaking until he could no longer hear his heart trying to break from his chest.

"By all the Seven hells, have you lost your mind, brother? You can't sneak up on me like this." Aurane hissed angrily while he sheathed his dagger again, Corlyn merely waited patiently, hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed in equally dull clothes, not a sign of their House colors on him anymore as well and with Corlyn's naturally dark hair even pulled back he looked so much more inconspicious than Aurane could ever dream off for himself in Westeros.

"I would apologize." Corlyn began in a whisper when Aurane had calmed down again, "But I would not be sincere in it. What do you think you are doing, Aurane? Where are you sneaking off to?"  
"Now where I am leaving King's Landing for longer, there are some things I have to get." Aurane answered in what he hoped was a diplomatic tone but Corlyn deadpanned back at him, the downside of being the youngest, both of his older brothers had always read him so easily.

Though, strictly speaking, Aurane hadn't lied...it was more a stretch of the truth. He was leaving King's Landing, Stannis had grown fed up with the tension concerning the Islander Houses – a responsibility he had shouldered off to a more than happily accepting Corlyn – apparently that and the won war had temporarily gotten the Baratheon brothers reconciled. Aurane wasn't exactly convinced that it would hold for more than a few years at most but it meant he had more freedom.

And he had to get some things.

They just...weren't his.

"Are we stealing stuff?" Corlyn asked right into the bullseye though and Aurane scowled at him, did he have to call it that, it made it sound so wrong.  
"First of all, we are not doing anything. And secondly, strictly speaking, I am returning them to their rightful owner and protector." Aurane pointed out and Corlyn raised a hand to drag it down his face but he hadn't left yet or forced Aurane to leave.

Well, would you look at that, barely a day spent in the Red Keep and even Corlyn turned into being up to no good.

"Tell me what we're doing on the way." Corlyn told him and pushed Aurane into going again, Aurane grinned and turned them left at the end of the corridor. His time spent with Varys now had shown him a great many secret passageways, which made moving to his planned location so much easier.

"We're taking some dragon jewels."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have asked."

\--

Once upon a time, namely seven years ago, the vast collection and selection of Targaryen crowns, circlets and jewelry had been put on display in a beautifully light filled hall off the Queen's Ballroom. Nearly three hundred years of Targaryen rule presented in beautiful, expensive and history filled pieces of luxurity.

Crowns of Kings and Queens. Circlets and tiaras of Princes and Princesses. Necklaces and rings of Targaryen ladies. One prettier than the other.

History.

History and legacy that with the Usurper's ascent to the throne had been plastered away into an at least dry room in the basement. Aurane had no doubt that the only reason they hadn't all been melted down had come down to their King's very own grandmother putting her foot down a year before her death.

Today, Aurane wanted to fetch something that the Martells had been asking the Crown for for a while already but had only been answered with 'it had gotten lost' when in truth no one had been bothered with wanting to look. Something that didn't even belong in the locked treasury because it was not Targaryen legacy but those of Princess Nymeria.

Elia's wedding circlet.

Getting the key from Varys had been child's play, Aurane had just needed to tell the man the Loyalists wanted to ship something over to Essos for the Prince and Princess to have. Viserys would soon come off age and it would be seen as a great gift to present him with a signet ring of his ancestors.

Corlyn looked like he couldn't decide between wanting to berate Aurane or praise him for his cheek, it was an odd look on his usually so proper brother's face but Aurane ignored it in order to unlock the room and light up the torches on either side of the door inside the room.

"Wow, this is sad," was Corlyn's first reaction and Aurane let him pass by him to look at the shelves, it was indeed very sad. As much as the room was dry and no dampness could get to the pieces, dust had of course not been kept out. Spider webs covered most shelves so heavily that some things wouldn't even be visible without a very close look and some swiping. "By the gods, this is such a disgrace. Does father know about this?"

No, he didn't.

Their father had cried, grieved and mourned enough.

"I didn't want him to get upset." Aurane answered and Corlyn nodded before stepping over to the crowns carelessly set into a heap on one of the shelves. King's Crowns. The crowns of great kings. The crowns of dragonriders. It was disgusting. He bit back all the comments he could think of upon the sight of history so neglected, it didn't get them anywhere.

Leaving Corlyn to look around, Aurane instead walked over to the left side of the room and grabbed the small flat wooden box where he knew Elia's circlet to be. 

"I can't just turn my back on this." Corlyn suddenly announced and Aurane glanced over to him in confusion, pushing the wooden box and some jewelry pieces into the small sack he had brought, the latter only to appease the story wooven for Varys.  
"You're going a little bit too Loyalist right now, brother." He vaguely warned Corlyn of where his thoughts were going, people always said Corlyn was boring and quiet and too proper. And maybe his temper was slow to grow but he had it as well, and after close to a decade of suppressed anger and frustration, Corlyn had apparently reached his boiling point in an abandoned room in the Red Keep's basement.

His timing was glorious.

"Aurane, this is our history." Corlyn hissed over, less in anger at Aurane's careful blankness and more still in shocked outrage over this disgrace, he turned around and showed Aurane the crown held in both of his hands, "This is the crown of our great-grandfather." And yes, that was a thought that Aurane liked to ignore sometimes, he had been more than aware that he had a truly outstanding position as a bastard in the circle of friends of the Crown Prince.

That it had been grounded on his father's highly respected position at court, the long long tight connections between the Targaryens and the Velaryons and because of the blood in his veins.

The sheer fact that his great-grandfather had been a King and that his grandmother had been born a Princess was something that Aurane liked to forget, it made him squeezy for some reason.

"Jaehaerys the Second wore this crown, his grandfather's crown, and I saw him wearing it on the Iron Throne myself as a boy, brother." Corlyn went on and gods be damned started pacing, Aurane reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose with one hand while the other held the small bag with the little tiny things he wanted to take. "He may not have been the greatest of them all, and he certainly didn't rule long but he was a King and he wore this crown with pride."

Stars and heavens above, Aurane thought to himself, ancestors if you can hear me, send my brother a sign to come back to his senses.

They sent him one.

Corlyn and Aurane both jumped when something crashed to the ground from one of the shelves at the back of the small room. Still holding King Maekar's crown Corlyn went to investigate and Aurane reluctantly followed him.

A short look to the ground revealed a small box that had dropped open upon hitting the ground and Aurane cursed his previous thoughts when he saw the crest of Starfall first and the opulent necklace of silver with moonstones and amethysts second.

Well, you idiot, he told himself, you bloody asked for a sign.

"A necklace belonging to Dyanna Dayne, would you look at that." Corlyn whispered and bent down, Aurane glared at the back of his head, "It's like the gods are on our side for once. Our gods, for sure, not these fickle Seven. Brother, be a dear and fetch Varys for me." Aurane stood still for a moment, staring with unblinking eyes at his oldest brother, Jace and Corlyn might have always had an easier time reading Aurane's every thought but Aurane wasn't an idiot either.

"No." He said and set his bag down on a shelf, snapping his hand back when it brushed against one of the more ostentatious crowns. "Doom of Valyria, no!" Corlyn surprised him when he jumped back to his feet and crowded Aurane back against the shelf, right up against the dragons on the crown of Aegon the Unworthy.

His brother's eyes were flashing and though they were blue, they certainly looked alive with fire for a good long moment there as Corlyn pressed a finger into Aurane's sternum.

"This is the legacy of Old Valyria. This is our blood, our history. This goes above and beyond the line of Dragon Kings, this has nothing to do with Targaryens or Velaryons. We are sons of Valyria, and though it may not be anymore, we are sworn to protect its memory and its history by the very blood that runs through our bodies. I'm a loyalist, yes, I admit it, are you happy? I'd bleed to see a Targaryen King or Queen sitting back on the throne they forged with dragonfire. This very castle was built in the likeness of the temples in Valyria. They took that from us, a fat assed wine slurping stag took it from us! Get me Varys down here, I don't care what stories we will have to pull for him, I want the crowns, the jewels, every damn piece of abandoned history down here brought to safety."

Aurane wordlessly slipped out from between his brother and the shelf and walked back into the corridor, turning left and then left again while he considered that he was dealing with too many quiet people holding back too much rage.

The gods of Old Valyria save them all if Elion, Arthur and Corlyn ever blew up together.

Even wildfire wouldn't burn bright enough to stop them.

\--

Thankfully enough Varys didn't pose too many questions as Aurane led him down into the long complicated tunnel system and then pointed him to the room with the hidden away Targaryen crown jewels.

"My Lord Velaryon," Varys began once Aurane had the door closed again, "You are not a sight I expected down here." Corlyn snorted and had never sounded more like Jace while he poked around boxes and fished around their content, Varys threw a look towards Aurane but Aurane only shrugged, leaning back against the only door. When your sane brother went nuts, you just rolled with it, no further questions asked.  
"Oh quit your pretty words and your gentle tone, Lord Varys, we both know my true colors. What are the words you like to use, 'I serve the Realm'? Well then, pray tell me, what once created this united realm that you say to be to devoutly serving?" Corlyn ranted out while he apparently kept on looking for something, Aurane furrowed his brows as his brother set rings to the side and went on to another box.

That was what you got apparently for staying on an island since you were five and ten, the mainland made you lose it a little.

Must be the air.

Varys didn't look any less confused over the behavior of the man he must have so far not had on his list to watch over. Corlyn had always been so proper and nice, easy to handle.

"My Lord, I am not sure I understand you correctly."

"Oh, you understand me just right. Before Aegon the Conqueror came with two sister wives and three dragons and a little wish for more power, Westeros was a land with many kings and many wars." Corlyn sounded like their Maester had when Aurane had been a child unable to sit still or wanting to listen, not when the harbor was full of beautiful ships and sailors with stories of adventures.

"A times long gone, my Lord."

"Indeed it is because there was a man of seven and twenty who had a dream. One could say he was hungry for power but everyone who ever read even the smallest bit about the first King Aegon will immediately know that power hungry was the very last thing suitable to describe him, that was Visenya, but never Aegon. No, Aegon had a dream, a united Westeros. The great Seven Kingdoms, a great realm, a picture of order and unity against the struggles and the chaotic tyranny of Essos. Led by the descendants of Old Valyria. A realm of peace."

"The Targaryens have done much for the Seven Kingdoms, that is true but the way of things have changed and we cannot forget that Robert Baratheon carries the blood of the Targaryens in his veins as well, my Lord." Varys tried to argue and Aurane gritted his teeth, shouldn't have mentioned that. Corlyn whirled around, one hand holding Maekar's crown still, the other now holding a ring that made the very blood in Aurane's fingers turn to ice, for the last time he had seen that ring Rhaegar had set it onto his desk because one didn't ride off into the sunset with maidens wearing their best jewelry.

"Yes, that's what the darling maesters always argued, wasn't it? He can sit the throne, he killed Aerys' heir, he laughed into the faces of Rhaegar's dead children but he carries Targaryen blood in himself, how can we not justify it. Do you remember why House Baratheon was founded in the first place?" Corlyn was truly on fire, sea dragons had been a thing after all, Aurane supposed and fought down a smirk when Varys was edging closer to being pushed out of his comfort zone.

Was the Master of Whisperers suddenly realizing that the sons of the sea knew how to play his game and didn't fall for his tricks?

Oh Varys, just wait until the vipers and stars stop hiding.

"Orys Baratheon was a dear friend..."

"We both know that's not the full truth. House Baratheon exists because yes, Orys was probably the only true friend King Aegon ever had outside of his sisters but he was also a bastard brother. An older bastard brother. You would give your bastardborn brother a House and seat to rule for his own as well if you're a newly crowned King. House Baratheon is a bastard branch of House Targaryen, and still you didn't have a marriage between them and the Targaryens until Princess Rhaelle had to pay the price for her siblings' dumwitted foolishness. Robert Baratheon sits on that throne as the grandson of a dragon princess. You want me to list down other candidates who had that kind of watered down dragonblood? Well, would you look at that, two candidates standing right here in this very room with you. I can probably find more still if I look through the descendants of my grandmother's sister, or just go straight to Lys and dig around until I can maybe find the descendants of Maegor, who if I may remind you was cast out of the line of succession because his father was as mad as they come and he could be as well. Instead they chose Prince Aegon and his line, but would you look at that, slipped right into madness that one! Lord Maegor is a decent man, I have that on good authority because my Lord father keeps good contact with him."

"My Lord..."

"I am standing here in the Castle of a man who despises the Targaryens until this day, curses the names of Rhaegar and Aerys to all corners of this realm, who sents assassins to hunt down the last fullblooded living dragons, who sents people into dungeons cells for opening their mouths too far. Every person holding Valyrian blood is a potential traitor to Robert Baratheon. A man who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the very House he wants murdered, probably just so he could smile and dance over the corpses of Rhaegar's siblings as he did over his children?"

"Lord..."

"I am standing in a room that I only heard off from my brother because I snuck down after him. I wouldn't say that I ever expected King Robert to keep on displaying the crowns and jewels of another era but there is a respectful behavior and there is this!" An angry hand got swept around the room, the ruby in the golden ring glinting in the light of the torch that Varys held in one hand, Aurane closed his eyes. "These aren't dragon skulls to discard out of sight. This is history, Lord Varys, this is the legacy of a great noble House and the people who married into it. This is the legacy of Old Valyria. How difficult do you think it would be for me to find something that belonged to House Velaryon or was gifted by my House to our Targaryen kin? Oh, would you look at that, this ring right here. Gifted by my grandmother, then Lady of Driftmark, to Prince Rhaegar upon his coming off age."

"Corlyn, take a breath." Aurane advised, the words sounding absolutely wrong this way around, but in his heart he had that sudden thought to want that ring for Arthur and Jon. And thinking of Arthur made another idea come up and while Corlyn ranted on about Valyrian history, honor and decency, rendering Varys entirely speechless, Aurane snuck into the back of the room.

He didn't need to look long until a light green box thankfully caught his eyes on top of a shelf and he had to actually get up on his tip toes to get it down, hastily wiping off spider webs and blowing off dust.

The box itself had come from Jace, in that year where Rhaegar had come off age and had decided that his friends shouldn't buy him something for his birthday but make something themselves. Aurane had no idea where Rhaegar had gotten that idea from and his self of three and ten had certainly not been excited over the idea at all. Rhaegar had insisted though, Jace had made him a locked box to hide treasures inside, Connington had taken Rhaegar's always wildly thrown poems and turned them into a book, Oswell was good with leather and had made Rhaegar a new sword sheath.

Hopelessly flapping about with no ideas for a fortnight, Aurane had finally sat down at some point and knotted a belt because knots he knew and a man could never have enough belts, he had even begged his grandmother for some rubies to knot into it.

Hadn't mattered anyway because though Rhaegar had liked it all, it had disappeared once Arthur's gift had been revealed.

Aurane set his fingers to the secret mechanism that would unlock the keyhole-lacking box, Jace had learned that trick from their grandfather. He breathed out deeply when he uncurled the black fabric that protected the hidden treasure. Two metal claps for a cloak were nestled into the black fabric, still shining as if having been polished only yesterday, a dragon engraved on the front but it was what laid behind that was the real hidden secret. 

Aurane carefully picked up one of the clasps and turned it around in the palm of his hands, smiling at the falling star that was engraved on the back.

Jon would love to have these, and if not then Arthur would surely appreciate them back to...

"Aurane, would you please back me up in this!" Corlyn ripped him out of his thoughts and Aurane quickly set the clasps back into the fabric nest and snapped the box close again, slipping it into his bag as he passed back to where Corlyn was huffing at Varys. And as he watched his brother make his case all over again to a still shocked looking Varys, Aurane's mind suddenly reminded him of a hidden locked room in a ruined castle.  
"I know where we can hide them," he fell into his brother's words and both older men looked at him, Varys with his eyebrows raised, Corlyn looking like Aurane was finally making sense, "We'd have to move quick though."

\--

Three moons later, Aurane brushed off his hands against his cloak and stared with panting breaths over to his brother who contently watched the result of three hours of labor. Their labor. No one else. Just them. Like idiots. Because Corlyn was more paranoid than anyone Aurane knew, maybe except for Varys.

The man they had fooled into believing that they had brought the Targaryen crowns and jewels into the once burned out basement of High Tide. 

When in truth the castle that laid above them and the new treasure vault was Summerhall.

**Author's Note:**

> More in the series coming soon!


End file.
